Hi guys! Due to my long delay and the never-ending editing I thought to just upload this video and make a more in depth conversation in the next one about how figure skaters are talking about the war. This next video will include the newest Zhenya ig post and Sara Hurtado's interview about why she left Russia. As well as where I see the future of Team Tutberidze going due to the new instability within Russia and sports.

"we will talk about yuzuru hanyu, do not worry" commentators talking about yuzu in the 2030 olmyps

When I saw Zhenya posting blue and yellow sky I have literally got tears in my eyes. It is not easy to support victims of war from the authoritarian state of censorship as a public figure. Every bit of support means a lot to people affected by this cruel war 💔

Honestly, I think Kostornaia should skate for another country like Georgia which is what Anastasiia Gubanova did. She would more likely succeed than trying to compete in Russia against a conveyor belt of young girls from Eteri. All she needs is time to heal, take better care of her body, and less drama in her life. Trusova should leave as well before she gets overtrained until her body falls apart and discarded and replaced by a younger talent.

I remember Michael Phelps last olympics in Rio 2016. He said in an interview he wanted to take it ALL in, not just the comepetition. He wanted to interact with the other athletes on the village, he wanted to see the fans and take pics with the volunteers. He said he never get the full "being on the olympics experience" cause he was always so focused on winning it all. I got the same vibes from Yuzuru these olympics, so I guess he knows for sure it was farewell

Also, congrats to your "beginners guide to team Tutberidze" video reaching the 1Mil mark.

Poor Kosto.. she deserves so much better. 😞💔 I hope she can have a better experience with Buyanova.

"Now I think his chapter is closing" Yuzuru Hanyu talking about the olympics 2026/30 lmao

sasha did get medal of the order "for merit of the fatherland" which is the honor below what Anna and Kamila got. most of them got some sort of medal except for a few!

Regarding what you said about Evgenia probably not leaving Sambo 70. You have to consider that Eteri pretty much monopolizes the figure skating world over there and has all the connections to ice shows in Russia and such. You constantly see Evgenia skate in Ilia Averbukh's ice shows and Alina skate in Tatiana Navka's ice shows. Being in Eteri's good graces allows her to have a career in show skating in Russia now that she's retired. Although, I am sure Japan and Canada would invite her to continue skating in their ice shows like they have in the past, COVID makes it more complicated with the travel restrictions. As for Sasha, I wouldn't be surprised if they are keeping her because of her reputation as the "quad queen" in Russia and her level of popularity. I wouldn't be surprised if she wants to leave but is trapped in a contract with Team Tutberidze OR she stays because she knows she will get the Eteri bonus (SO CORRUPT 😔).

I was really hoping Aliona was going to move to Mark Kondratiuk's coach, Svetlana Sokolovskaya. She seems to have a good philosophy on balancing skating with life and stressed the importance of not exerting one's self in a fairly recent interview. Whatever happens, I just hope she's happy and if she wants, has a long career ahead.

I am more proud of Evgenia now for speaking about Russian conflict in Ukraine than I have ever been for any win or achievement of hers. She risks so much by even alluding to it and no other Russian figure skater has spoken up!

Paola, Thank you for mentioning Russian invasion on Ukraine. We, Poles have more then a 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine in our country currently and circa 100k are arriving each day. I am personaly hosting 11 people (3 mums and 8 little children) that are traumatized for life. Thank you for making a statement. Thank you for not being silent. The more we speak the more chance russians will dare to speak and react. I hope you reach the broad fs community in Russia. Go Zhenya for her comment 💙💛

This video was a journey! Amazed by the brave protesters in Russia. Sad that Trusova wasn't honored by her gov't?? Moment of appreciation for Nathan Chen, first Asian American male skater to win gold and rep children of immigrants in the US. I have waited literally 20 years for an Asian American champion, since the Michelle Kwan heartbreak Olympics.

I hope Trusova leaves Eteri. I would be just as happy if she got kicked out! Who cares what Eteri thinks about Trusova? Trusova deserves so much more.

Thank you so much for putting out vdos during this difficult time, especially ones that touches on this stressful political subject. And massive thank you for sharing places we can give our support.

I just wanted to say I completely agree about Yuma! Honestly he was a bright spot in a very heartbreaking Olympics.

After Olympic, it is always retirement season. I was excited before The Olympic and I will cry a river after each retirement announcement for sure

Aliona is my favorite Russian skater, and I really hope the best for her. Even though I feel like it's unlikely because of her injuries and maybe being held back due to leaving Eteri, I hope she proves everyone wrong and show that she can make it

i want to gossip but i have no one to gossip with so i love hearing you talk about all this stuff!

I’ve never been happier of having chosen to support Zhenya. It’s crappy that you need to stay in Team T if you want to have a career after retirement but it’s the way it is. Hoping for Trusova to change coach though.

I heard that they took kids to the police station in Russia for protesting. I saw pics of the distressed kids at the precinct but that’s all the information I got. If it’s true that’s so unfair they looked so terrified. So scary to be an athlete in Russia as well. Winning gold medals is part of their patriarchy so no wonder they have to be careful of their words. I also wanna know why Sasha didn’t get government honours? Is it because she got a different honour?

Alysa Liu gave the best statement I've ever heard that girl has a lot of intelligence and wisdom to say that. I commend her. Same thing with the UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell that cited corruption and said I don't know what the hell is going on so don't make me go fight basically

I have not had anyone to think about all this with. Thanks!

I’m still not over Boikova and Kozlovskii not medaling… that shattered me I love them so much

I’ve been checking every single day to see if you’ve posted a new video. So glad to get on today and see you did! Great to have you back!!!

I love your commentaries. You do a really good job of covering everything and keeping us all in the loop. Thank you!

I LOVE the way you describe the performers, like their energy and personalities.

I don’t think Sasha will leave she sees that the only way to win is with tutberidze and her dad sees that too no way in hell she’s moving. Plus she just landed five quads under eteri too so yeah. Great video as always queen. ❤️❤️👑👑⛸⛸🌪🌪🔥🔥

"wrap my arm around" I think that makes way more sense than "wrap my head" ! Great video! I love your commentary about figure skating!

Now it's a little more obvious why Sasha Trusova was so upset about not getting a gold medal 🥇.

Thank you for guiding us through the context (*ahem drama*) surrounding Figure Skating. Found your channel while looking for a guide on Olympic figure skating-it’s been a wild ride since then! Love your videos 💕

As a proud Kostobot, I’m so unsure what to think about this coach change, as we’ve seen, Eteri’s methods produced Aliona at her very best during the 2019 season and now it feels like all her work will go to waste as she may never get her Olympic moment. While I agree that Tut’s ways are vile and and reform, it feels even more unfair that Aliona will never get to reap the rewards of her “ intense training.” ALSO I just want to see her nail that New York New York short program with a triple axel as I really that that is all it would take to reset the world record.

Okay, but honestly? Yeah I think Nathan will retire and I mean even his coach told him as much (if you believe the translations). Nathan has his gold and he is in Yale - I don't see him putting much more into skating. He has "done it all". With Yuma - listen I was there when everyone and their grandma told that Shoma will kick Hanyu off his throne. We all saw what happened. Yuma is young and I would wait a bit longer to see what comes down the road as now he has a good amount of pressure on him to be the best. Also Shoma seriously by this point has found his stride and just flows with it. He is the chaos child and let us just have Lambiel deal with that. Yuzuru Hanyu pretty much just vibed and gave free performances to the volunteers - the dude was on vacation. It wasn't the Beijing Olympics, it was Yuzuru Hanyus extended practice sessions and the Olympics happened to be at the same venue. He was with the ice dance and pairs win the only shining happy light we had at this mess of an event. I agree this Olympics fully closed an era. Pyeongchang started it and Beijing ended it with a swan song honestly. Kosto...jesus fuck will we have a purge at the Eteri camp when the transfer window opens? It feels like it to me.

Second one here!!! Kosternia is, and has been, my absolute favorite...she is the total package and i hope she continues to skate...we shall see...love your videos so much, so thanks for all your hard work...also, i DO think Russians need to suffer some sort of punishment for the abuse and the doping...the Olympic drama started because of DOPING, not because of the war...let's not forget that part please! I really hope Eteri loses her students...she deserves it...sorry not sorry.

nothing but respect for MY gold medalist Kaori Sakamoto

I feel like you don’t talk about unfair judging enough. I’m not saying you HAVE to talk about it but as someone who has been getting more people into this sport I think you should let those people know that the judges’ scores are always complete bullshit. In your video about the ladies event you briefly mentioned that Wakaba was underscored but that was all. You didn’t really discuss how ALL of the Korean and Japanese ladies were extremely underscored, while Kami, Sasha and Anna were all extremely overscored. You didn’t mention that Wakaba and Kamila had the exact same technical content in their short programs, and Wakaba had a better short program performance than Kamila, but somehow placed almost 10 points lower than Kamila. Wakaba even scored lower with a 3A than she did in the team event sp where she did a 2A. Pretty much everyone I know agrees that the short program should have been Waka first, Kaori second and Young third. As for the free skate, I don’t feel like going into detail right now cause I’m getting tired of typing but the scores were just as ridiculous. And it wasn’t just the ladies either. I’m just talking about the ladies cause I don’t really keep up with the other fields but from what I’ve seen, the judging was also bad there too.

Am I the only who believes Eteri and Putin would be the greatest Russian evil couple?

It is a coincidence that the dutiful children, Zagitova and shcherbakova, who also happens to be Dani G’s fave girls are the ones who ended up with a gold medal? I’m not starting a conspiracy. I’m just dumbfounded by the unlikely coincidence of it all.

I've been waiting for this 🥺 thank you.

Im waiting everyday for your new video xD so many things are happening right now and I literally hope to see soon a video where you spill the tea

Did you know that Jana Rudkovskaya made a very empathetic post abt how she has a Ukranian father, Ukranian friends… and then deleted it and is now sounding like her posts are written by the Kremlin

I love your videos!! Every single one makes me feel like I'm on facetime with a friend who's spilling some tea :D Thank you for this update video, especially during such a stressful time geopolitically

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and heart.

This war has been going on since 2014. Also I'm so glad Nathan Chen won! His free program performance was so iconic!

i have a gut feeling Yuma will win in 2026.. honestly i want that for him. I love his skating. Also i hope they raise the age.... maybe sasha might make it... god i hope so.. also i hope sasha leaves eteri... and aliona should switch countries so she can keep skating..

Thank you for all you do!

Looks like kostornaia is at the end of your career and heading to retirement. So heartbreaking 💔 such a beautiful, talented, unique skater. Hope Trusova leaves that Toxic environment

The only person who could have beat Nathan Chen had 2 disasterous programs. Same as when Nathan Chen got beat by him 4 years prior. I feel like it's kindof a shame, honestly. Honestly, now we'll never know who wins when both performers have the night of their life. Yuzuru Hanyu has said he isn't retiring, I believe, and Shoma Uno for sure isn't. However, this would make him 31 at the next Olympics. I'm sure his joints are already feeling it.

Also that fact that eteri turned off the visibility of her followings on her instagram and as well on team tutberidze, makes me chuckle 💀💀💀

Dear Paola La, Thanks so much for your thoughtful analysis and heartfelt reactions to so many heartbreaking events. I have not been able to watch figure skating KZfaq videos since the Olympics; every time I see a picture of Valieva she looks like she's aged many years and her face looks like she is wearing a mask. I'm so sorry she was embroiled in the middle of this madness. Eteri was her head coach, so needs to take responsibility, which she will NEVER do. A young life terribly wounded, if not totally ruined. May Eteri and her cohorts rot in _____. Forgive my french.

"he has done it all" BUT WHY YUZU WHY ARE U NOT SATISFIED 😭😭 also fantasy on ice 2022 is happening so lets hope yuzu will perform there

I wish I discovered your channel earlier, your videos are great and I enjoy all of them!

ekaterina posted on her ig too :) she's russian but represents poland

I dont think talking about figure skating is frivolous at all. Even in dark times we all need some light, something less serious to talk about every once in awhile just to get through. Keep doing what you do ! Cant wait for worlds its gonna be interesting without the Russians

No one especially famous people should be obligated to follow politics. Not everyone is interested and not everyone can understand. Reading a few twitter threads and news doesnt give you the complete story. This war goes back all the way to years ago and it’s a very complex situation. I think a lot of people can comes to terms that innocent people shouldn’t die and that we all pray for no war, but specifically knowing the whole story and how it started, let’s be real only a minority understands completely. Adult celebrities doesnt know shit about this, what do you expect a 15/16 yr old who doesnt follow politics to know. Celebrities and famous people has twisted politics many times in the past snd they could easily do it accidentally. So imo ESPECIALLY if you have a following unless you completely follow politics and do your research i say its better to just not say anything.

Figure skating news stops for NOTHING baby! Keep up the good work

Something about your commentary just makes me grin; I think you're speaking my thoughts or something. Either way, very funny and familiar. Thank you for the great video!

love u so much

I hope Trusova gets a new citizenship, because all that talent to be wasted because of a ban is too much.

Since after March Break, we won’t have to wear masks anymore (In canada/Ontario/Toronto), I hope that they’ll go under a coach like Brian Orser who will be a much better coach than Tutberidze and Plushenko.

Liza Tutkamisheva also made a post/statement supporting ukrain!

That's a firetruck... 😊

Not only Shoma Uno has two Olympic silver medals, he also won silver at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics.

Why russian figure skating looks like a mix of mexican soap opera with low income reality show? So much drama in the life of girls who aren't even legal adults yet. There's no love in that kind of environment, only greed, jealousy and self-destruction. So tragic.

your videos make my day a million times better

Diana Davis (Eteri’s daughter) also posted about the war on instagram. That’s quite brave❤️

🔵🟡🙏 thank you for mentioning the drama of people of Ukraine! More than a million refugees from Ukraine came to Poland now... mostly women and children

I don't think Yuzuru is done. I think he is inured and wants to heal. He loves skating, and if it isn't in competition, he will reinvent something new.

Somehow the 2002 winter games seem more recent than the 2022 winter games.

21:47 why does kostornaia have such a good euler? 👍 only young you's is better. I wish kostornaia the absolute best, she's a jewel.

Has there been a decision about the doping scandal in the team competition? Will the Russians keep their gold medal and when will there be the award ceremony?

Hey im quite New here and im enjoying your vids! I have a question though why is Medvedeva still in tutberidze’s team? I thought she retired?

I'm glad you chose to talk about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Obviously this is a figure skating channel, but you addressed the situation properly and talked about its effects upon the figure skating world. On that topic, I'd love to see a follow up video about the 2022 World championship and how it was impacted by the lack of Russian skaters. Also, why does Trusova get so ignored? That breaks my heart to see how poorly the Russian government treats her in particular, even while rewarding other silver medalists.

I don't think he needs it, but Yuzu the man himself said he's not thinking about retirement (it was half serious but I believe he said he might try to qualify for 2026 xD)

I love Alysa Liu!!! What a wonderful girl!

hi paola, i just wanted to say i am a very very new figure skating fan (like a month lol, but i’ve always been fascinated by it) and i am enjoying your videos so much, they’re so informative and they help me understand things that i wouldn’t have otherwise! keep up the great work!!!❤️❤️

Wait, so you don't think Chen and Yuzu will be on next Olympics? :( it might be my only chance to see them live! :(

Actually, Sasha received an award too, I just don't know wich one has more... value? Russia's official state news agency TASS reported that Kamila Valieva, Alexander Gallyamov, Mark Kondratyuk, Anastasia Mishina, Victoria Sinitsina and Anna Shcherbakova were awarded the Order of Friendship. Nikita Katsalapov received the Order of Honour. Alexandra Trusova recived the First Class Order of Merit for the Fatherland.

Here comes the tea 🍵🐸

Ive been waiting for this video since the kostornaia news, thank you for making this video and thank you for talking about the invasion in ukraine

I don't know where you live but your ambulances sounds so scary omg, for a second I thought it was an air raid siren (because it sounds kinda similar to ours).

I’m very excited to see who is coming in the next generation

I'm still trying to find the footage of kamila's routine when she fell.

I MISSED YOU. IM NOT EVEN KIDDING. I MISSED YOUR VIDEOS!!

Oh! So much drama these days! I wonder what Buyanova thinks of the whole situation with Alena, the rumor has it that Buyanova hates Eteri a lot since she had a very long lasting affair with her husband, and some even think that her husband is Diana’s bio dad.

I thought you were going to talk about Donovan Carrillo since he won the most memorable Olympic moment haha. Anyways thank you for your effort, I love your channel ❤️

Could you do a video on who you think is likely to take Gold at Worlds now that Russia has been banned?

Povera Aliona, la più bella e la più libera !!! Aiutiamola per favore

3:14 here after the Worlds, Shoma be like : Nah nah not this time😂

There’s no way papadakis and cizeron are retiring this soon

Shoma Uno is a very expressive and beautiful athlete

Do you have a video explaining the reason for the age difference between the women and men?

Ilia malinin will dominate skating

The world is always on fire tho, and some channels were scape safe places but it seems that no one can do that anymore :/

In the current situation I think it´s the best to change to another country. Possible the Russian athletes will be banned for a long time. Maybe nor the next 1-2-3 seasons. So Sashas Annas best time will give them no international competitions. I think its better for both to change. Anna can go to Swiss to her sister. Sasha already last year she wants to go to the USA and train with Rafael. I hope she will do this. Because I think she can improve again a lot. Hope to see her being first ever landing all Ultra-C elements in one Free Skate.

Anna Shcherbakova is orion the hunter's weapon

Dear Paola. I appreciate all of your videos, and I'm definitely awaits war, it's fucking ridiculous and it's the innocent who suffers. However it would be good to gave the same importance to other countries that have suffers the horrible consequences of war, what about Palestine? Israel has invaded, stolen land and murder thousands of innocent people and there have not been any consequences for them. Israel atheles continue competing. And this is not the only example, let's talk about Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Irak, central Africa etc. It looks like it only matters when is Europe, white people are the ones that matter apparently. When the US invades that's fine... ( Not that I'm saying that it's ok for Russia to invade )

Why hasn’t Eteri been fined by OSU?🙁

So I'm primarily a gymnastics fan who follows figure skating more casually (mostly through your videos haha). So when the IOC initially made the recommendation for international sports federations to ban Russian/Belarusian athletes there were already Russian gymnasts in Doha for a world cup. So the FIG (international gymnastics federation) didn't have the ban take place until after that competition. At the competition a male Russian gymnast wore a symbol of support for the Russian troops in Ukraine (a Z) on his chest during a medal ceremony with a Ukrainian athlete. The female Ukrainian athlete there refused to take part in medal ceremonies with the Russian gymnasts and had her own moment on the podium alone. I think this situation showed that the ISU/FIG/other sports federations made the right call in banning Russian/Belarusian athletes. It's sad because obviously not all athletes in Russia support Putin and they're all being fed propaganda but the safety and comfort of the Ukrainian athletes needs to be put first in these situations.